Benefits of Ilizarov automated bone distraction for nerves and articular cartilage in experimental leg lengthening

Table 6 Average morphometric parameters of peroneal myelinated nerve fibers (mean ± SE)

Parameters/group andt-points	Share of degenerated nerve fibers (%)	Nerve fibers diameters (mKm)	Axonal diameters (mKm)	Myelin sheath thickness (mKm)
Intact control	1.9 ± 0.3	6.46 ± 0.07	4.39 ± 0.08	1.04 ± 0.04
M-group - manual distraction (1 mm/d in 4 steps)
28 d of distraction	6.0 ± 1.4a	5.37 a ± 0.41	3.69 ± 0.29a	0.84 ± 0.09a
30 d of fixation	4.3 ± 1.3a	6.09 ± 0.63	4.44 ± 0.57	0.98 ± 0.06
30 d without apparatus	4.2 ± 0.4a	5.90 ± 0.43	4.10 ± 0.10a	0.90 ± 0.17a
A-group - automatic distraction (1 mm/d in 60 steps)
28 d of distraction	4.0 ± 0.8ac	5.56 ± 0.26a	3.70 ± 0.53a	0.92 ± 0.13
30 d of fixation	3.3 ± 0.1ac	5.62 ± 0.07a	3.91 ± 0.09a	0.85 a ± 0.07
30 d without apparatus	2.4 ± 0.6c	6.17 ± 0.45	4.14 ± 0.16	1.01 ± 0.06

^aP < 0.05 vs intact;

^cP < 0.05 vs group M.